Hogan, who was known as one of golf’s greatest ball strikers, became the first player to ever win three of the modern era’s four major championships in the same calendar year with his 1953 run in the Masters, US Open, and British Open. And, who knows, he might have won the PGA Championship as well if the tournament hadn’t overlapped with the British Open, preventing him from entering both events. This is why the term “Hogan Slam” was coined.
The 1953 season also proved to be memorable for Hogan because he won five of just six tournaments he played, a light schedule necessitated by the physical challenges he faced after a serious car accident in 1949. That limited his ability to walk distances comfortably. In fact, his victory in the 1950 US Open was viewed as almost miraculous so soon after the crash nearly took his life.
